Boards

Running Amok: A SE Asian term stemming from the ancient Malay 'mengamuk' meaning loosely "to go fucking batshit". Apparently the term referred to a phenomenon peculiar to that part of the world whereby an individual would suddenly without warning or reason

Though at first thought to be a mere explosion of sudden insanity, subsequent thinking suggested that running amok was in fact a form of suicide (prompted by the usual shit - debt, domestics, etc) which had come about due to the Islamic and various other cultural injunctions against doing the work yourself. Furthermore, incidents of running amok were found to decrease in areas controlled by the British and other colonials - who were much more in favour of capturing the rampager alive and bringing him to trial. Nowadays the term is appropriately applied to angered elephants and sugar-fuelled toddlers.

Berserk: Scandinavian - "ber-": 'bjorn' or 'bear' and "-serkir": cloth. Literally "bearsuit" from the bears heads/vests these Norse troops wore into battle; going Berserk differs from running Amok in that while Amok is indiscriminately directed violence, Berserkers directed their bloody fervour (more or less) solely at the enemy. The usual explanation for Berserker behaviour holds that they were naturally badass - they literally dressed in bears and carrying massive axes to throw at peoples' heads - there have been suggestions that Norse warriors put themselves in such a state by ingesting various drugs, or that they were men selected for combat based on their being manic-depressive.

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Supplementary fact: Toilets in which there are mirrors strategically placed so as to enable occupants to watch themselves taking a shit are not right.

'Jumping Frenchmen of Maine is a rare disorder originally described by George Miller Beard in 1878. It results in an exaggerated "startle" reflex.'

'The "Jumping Frenchmen" seemed to react abnormally to sudden stimuli. Beard recorded, for instance, individuals who would obey any command given suddenly, even if it meant striking a loved one, and repeat back unfamiliar or foreign phrases uncontrollably.'

"Tell them I want jam as well, or the deal's off."
"Ernie, they just called back – they said not to worry about the jam. Apparently Chris Tucker is on board to play Winston."
"I... I'll do it for half a scone. It doesn’t even have to be a fresh one. Come on man, I need this!”

'Hudson played Winston Zeddemore, a firefighter who enlists with the Ghostbusters in the 1984 film Ghostbusters and its 1989 sequel (he auditioned to reprise the role for the animated series but lost to Arsenio Hall)'.

You can't even win the role you already played, in an animated film, against Arsenio Hall, at a time that you still had the semblance of a career?